One of the new owners of Portland ‘s , Gunderson Marine , &, Iron factory has sold his interest to his company lover, but both say the business remains on solid footing.
Two , Portland , industrialists,  , Dee Burch , and , Terry Aarnio,  , bought the , Northwest Portland , activity next year , after , The Greenbrier Cos. transferred train manufacturing to other parts of the country and exited the ship company.
The new owners wanted to revive the boat industry and start a business in other types of aquatic design. Burch said , Gunderson Marine , won$ 200 million in agreements within six weeks, including a boat to , supply , McMurdo Station , in , Antarctica, an 800-ton construction at , Pearl Harbor , for the , U. S. Navy, a dockyard on the same page and other big government and private sea deals.
Employment grew from around 300 at the time they bought Gunderson, Burch said, to about 340 now.
The growth triggered a split among the partners, though. While Aarnio, the former owner of Oregon Iron Works, suggested they should capitalize on their initial success and implement a more ambitious growth strategy, Bucch said he favors a slower expansion.
Unable to reconcile their differences, Burch said he agreed to buy Aarnio’s stake.
We certainly had different ideas of where we wanted to be in three to five years, Aarnio said.
Aarnio said two owners with different objectives ran the risk of tearing the business apart, so he agreed to sell his stake. He said he was scheduled to introduce Burch to a potential customer on Friday afternoon and that he still supported his efforts.
” We’re wishing him all the best”, Aarnio said. ” It’s an amicable agreement that we reached”.
Burch said he anticipates the company will continue adding jobs in the months to come even at a moderate pace.
” We’ve found a ton of people that are incredibly interested”, Burch said. He stated that he wants to show that people can still pursue careers in manufacturing, regardless of their academic backgrounds.
According to Burch,” we think we have enough business opportunities to keep them employed,” so they wo n’t have to worry about starting over after being laid off.
___
© 2024 Advance Local Media LLC
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
